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The Crimson Tide (book)
The Crimson Tide is a single-player role-playing gamebook written by Paul Mason, illustrated by Terry Oakes and originally published in 1992 by Puffin Books. It was later republished by Wizard Books in 2004. It forms part of Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone's Fighting Fantasy series. It is the 47th in the series in the original Puffin series (ISBN 0-14-031922-0). There are currently no announced plans to republish this book as part of the modern Wizard series. Creation Background ''The Crimson Tide is set in the Isles of the Dawn in the Southern hemisphere of Titan. The events of the book take place after those described in a previous book, Black Vein Prophecy. The player character begins as a young child whose father has been killed and whose mother has been kidnapped by mercenaries. The story follows the child's progression towards adulthood and revenge. Introduction The book in general follows the original rules set down in The Warlock of Firetop Mountain. (see Game System) Unique Rules Because the player begins the book aged thirteen, their attribute scores may eventually exceed their Initial' values which become fixed once they reach eighteen. age is an attribute of the book due to the young age of the player at the outset and has an affect on the gameplay. Also, at each age increase the player is able to restore their Temporary stamina to the Permanent figure. The Crimson Tide also introduces the attribute of ferocity which is determined by a 1d6 roll with the addition of half the player's stamina score (with halves rounded upwards). Should the player's ferocity score fall to 0 or less they are instructed to turn to paragraph 200. Also, for each age increase the player is to lower their ferocity score by 2 points. Equipment List The player begins the adventure with nothing more than a Wooden Sword, although they gain 2 provisions in the opening paragraph. Cover and Illustrations Covers The original cover of the book was designed and illustrated by Alan Craddock. #Price of 1st Impression #Price of 2nd Impression Illustrations The interior illustrations were by Terry Oakes. Intertextual References The book contains a reference to the earlier Fighting Fantasy book Sword of the Samurai in that the player can encounter a character from Hachiman, the region in which the earlier book is set. Prequel The Crimson Tide ties-in with Paul Mason's previous Fighting Fantasy book, Black Vein Prophecy. The player character meets several characters from Black Vein Prophecy, including the player character from the successful ending to the earlier book, who is now a king. Other Media Main Characters YOU: Hero of The Crimson Tide *Dry Jade *Eyes and Ears of the God-King *Feior *Ambassador Keiko *Maior *Merzei *Poo Ta Locations *Baochou Monastery *Golden Crane Mountains *Hachiman/Ojin *Isles of the Dawn *Shoudu *Traole *Yenshu Encounters Further Notes *Unlike other Fighting Fantasy books is the fact that many of the premature endings to the book do not involve the death or failure of the player character. These endings include the player character living the rest of his life as a monk, a sailor or a basket weaver, without finding his mother or obtaining his revenge. Editing Error The first enemy encountered on the critical path to the standard solution of the book is a Mudworm, with a skill score of 12 (at this point the highest possible skill which the player character could have is 6), rendering the book virtually impossible to complete without having the player cheat at this point. This was an editing mistake by Marc Gascoigne (whom Mason later referred to as a dingbat and a total idiot) who forgot that the player began the book as a child and altered the skill score of the Mudworm from 6 to 12. Dedication Dedicated to Keiko, Ambassador of Ai See Also *''Fighting Fantasy'' External Links *Character Sheet References Category:FF47 Entries Category:1992 books 47